It has been long overdue playing Silence. I’ve replayed The Whispered World in preparation for this game, that was a couple of months ago. Luckily, the story and characters were still fresh enough. Silence is definitely more enjoyable with that knowledge, many NPC return, some inside jokes are referenced and the story kind of continues. I say kind of because the focus is on a different set of characters and some plot details have been heavily changed. I don’t mind the new characters or wanting to change things, but I don’t understand why the main character suddenly has a sister, why ‘Corona’ is now called ‘Silence’ etc. That’s just rewriting history to make things work and it doesn’t feel right. In a sense, Silence does feel like a new game. That is certainly the case when it comes to the gameplay. The previous game was more of a pure point and click adventure game with less focus on the story. Here things have been so simplified and there are so many cutscenes/dialogues, that it feels closer to a walking sim with some light point and click elements.

I’m not saying this in disapproval, I’m just pointing out the differences to be fully aware what you’re getting yourself into. Looking past all of that, the game’s quality is very high. The graphics are gorgeous, you have to see them in motion to appreciate the magic. The cutscenes are properly directed, they’re not half-assed. The text is fully voice acted and everyone does a fine job. The UI is great, the gameplay is smooth and everything feels super polished. Basically, you can tell the game had a lot of budget. The only flaw I noticed is everything regarding the achievements. There are too many that require very specific steps. It went so far that I opted with playing the first run completely blind and the second time using a guide to get the achievements missed. There are also a couple that seem very harsh or buggy with the requirements, think of completing the game without skipping anything etc. The first run took me 5 hours. The second run took 4 hours, it was stressful trying to follow the guide fully to not miss anything.

Silence is a great game, I had a blast playing it the first time. Renie is such a lovable character, the story is both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Those feelings are similar to the first game but the games are still very different. I highly recommend the game to newcomers. When it comes to fans, I only recommend it if you’re open to change in every sense of the word. Coming with expectations would be the wrong way to approach this game. It’s on sale often and it’s therefore absurdly cheap. So you can always give it a try without losing much out of it.